Bennet visited Lory State Park northwest of Fort Collins, where the Galena Fire flared March 15 and for five days swept across 1,300 acres and threatened hundreds of homes before firefighters hemmed it in.

"This is a reminder that fire season is coming to Colorado earlier and earlier," Bennet said as he met with firefighters, forest managers, park rangers and national forest officials.

He said told reporters that members of his mixed audience needed to be able to count on federal support as they teamed up to prevent, mitigate and fight wildfires.

Forest manager and GIS coordinator for Colorado Parks and Wildlife Matt Schulz, left, shows U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, center, a map of the Galena fire burn area Tuesday morning while Galena Fire Incident Commander Tony Simons looks on in Lory State Park during a tour of the burn area.
(
Timothy Hurst
)

"They need predictability from Washington," Bennet said, standing in the cold rain at a scorched picnic area in the park. "And, it isn't just about money."

Bennet called for expansion of "good neighbor" initiatives that break down territorial barriers, allowing local, state and federal workers to collaborate on wildfire prevention and suppression.

"Fires don't care about boundaries," Bennet said. "We need to be able to have local guys doing mitigation work on the federal level."

Wildfires, once thought of as summer perils, now threaten forest and grassland year-round as evidenced by the Galena Fire and the Fern Lake fire that burned well into the winter after breaking out last fall in Rocky Mountain National Park.